The invention relates to a device intended to enable a package, particularly a package produced from paperboard or laminates containing paperboard, to be opened, have at least a portion of the contents poured therefrom, and thereafter closed. It also relates to the packages provided with such a device.
Packages produced from paperboard or laminates containing paperboard, for liquid products have been extensively developed in recent years and are particularly tailored to the preservation and storage of food products, such as, for example, milk, fruit juices, etc. Packages of this type, which advantageously are of parallelepiped geometry, prove to be most particularly desirable whenever problems of transportation, storage and stacking arise.
However, the problem, on the one hand, of opening them and, on the other hand, of the possibility of closing them after a first use arose a very long time ago. Although solutions have been offered to the problem of successive opening and closing, the objective nevertheless has remained.
A device has been described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,316, issued Sep. 7, 1999, for opening and closing a package of parallelepiped geometry made of paperboard. The device is secured within an opening region encompassing a defined pouring region for the product contained in the package. The pouring region is provided with prescoring to allow the package to be opened during the first use. The device includes a peripheral ring fastened to the package near the perimeter of the opening region, a lid to seal off the pouring region reversibly and being fixed to the peripheral ring, and a lever hinged by a hinge pin in the horizontal plane containing the device to rupture the pouring region along the prescoring. The lever has a first part intended first of all, by the lever effect, to break some of the prescoring to allow effective opening of the package, and then to be held in place inside the package thus opened, and a second part, constituting the lever arm acting on the first part, intended, after having acted cooperatively with the first part, to be folded back into its initial position to be parallel and in the plane containing the peripheral ring. Although somewhat effective as an opening and closing device, the design of the device tends to retard the pouring process. In particular, the flap defined by the torn prescoring is pushed back into the pouring opening as the contents are poured through the opening, effectively reducing the size of the opening and restricting the rate and consistency of flow through the opening. In addition, in this prior art device, a second opening must be defined as a vent hole at a location distant from the pouring opening to allow air to enter the package as the contents are poured out. In this device, the user must remember to take the second step of opening the vent hole or else may become frustrated with the slow and inconsistent pouring process because the liquid pours out relatively irregularly and causes splashes, given the ingress of air into the package in order to occupy the volume liberated by the liquid.
An object of the present invention is to provide an opening and closing device for packages, particularly packages substantially made of paperboard and more particularly packages of parallelepiped geometry, which is simple to employ, at a low manufacturing cost, is easy to affix to the package, and allows efficient pouring of the contents of the package.
The present device for opening and closing a package, such as a package of parallelepiped geometry, is intended to be affixed to the package within an opening region, having an inboard end and an outboard end, the outboard end being disposed adjacent a side of the package, and which incorporates therein a pouring region for the product contained in the package, the pouring region being provided with prescoring (cuts and/or scores) intended to allow the package to be opened during the first use. The prescoring includes an inboard end and an outboard end and the inboard end of the prescoring defines a fold line. The present device comprises: a peripheral ring, having an inboard end and an outboard end, affixed to the package within the perimeter of the opening region and encompassing the pouring region; a lid, intended by acting cooperatively with the peripheral ring to seal off the pouring region reversibly, the lid being hinged to the peripheral ring; and a lever, including a rupture element having an inboard end and an outboard end, hinged to the peripheral ring in a horizontal plane containing the device and intended, when it is actuated, to rupture the pouring region of the package at the prescoring, the hinge pin of the lever extending between opposite sides of the peripheral ring and lying opposite the pouring region.
The invention is characterized in that the lever comprises two parts, lying on opposite sides of the hinge pin: a rupture element, intended by the lever effect to break the prescoring which defines the pouring region, so as to allow effective opening of the package, and then to be held in place inside the package thus opened in a non-flow-obstructing position; and a second part, constituting a lever arm which acts cooperatively with the rupture element, intended, after having acted cooperatively with the rupture element, to be folded back into its initial position, i.e. so as to be generally parallel and in the plane containing the peripheral ring. The peripheral ring includes, adjacent the pouring region, lugs directed towards the inside of the ring and intended to act cooperatively with the rear face of the rupture element so as, after perforation of the prescoring, to hold the rupture element in place interiorly of the package approximately perpendicular to the plane of the pouring region to retain the ruptured tab of the pouring region apart from the opening and, simultaneously, define a vent for entering air during pouring.
In other words, the invention comprises fitting in the opening region of a package, particularly a package of parallelepiped geometry, a pouring and closing system making use of a lever to break the prescored regions made beforehand, in such a way as to define an efficient pouring region.
According to one aspect of the invention, the rupture element is connected, at one of its opposite ends, to the hinge pin by means of a flexible tab; the rear end of the rupture element acts cooperatively with the front face of the lever arm. Advantageously, the ring is provided with at least one projection directed inwardly of the ring and towards the pouring region, the projection being slightly tapered so as to facilitate movement of the rupture element therepast as the pouring region is pierced, and to thereafter resist reverse rotational movement of the rupture element from inside the package.
Further, in another aspect of the present invention, the distal (unhinged) end of the rupture element is provided with at least one, and preferably three, projections extending toward the pouring region and in position to engage the prescored pouring region upon rotational movement of the rupture element about its hinged end in a direction toward the pouring region. In a preferred embodiment, the central one of three projections is designed to initially engage the prescored pouring region, followed by engagement of the pouring region by flanking projections.
The invention also relates to the packages, particularly packages made of paperboard, provided with such opening, pouring, and closing devices.